1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital camera which is suitable for being incorporated in a portable device such as a cellular phone or a personal digital assistant.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various kinds of portable devices in which a digital camera is incorporated such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs) have been developed. Such a digital camera has become increasingly sophisticated, and a digital-camera equipped personal digital assistant provided with high-intensity LEDs as a light emitting device has been proposed in Japanese laid-open patent publication No. 2003-259182. It has been desired in recent years for a digital camera incorporated in a portable device be equipped with a diaphragm device for enlarging the scope of exposure control and a mechanical shutter adapted to meet the demand for high-quality images.
However, in the case where an object image is captured with one or more high-intensity LEDs remaining lit, the peak current increases since a current for driving the high-intensity LED and a current for driving the diaphragm device are simultaneously passed through the high-intensity LED and the diaphragm device, respectively. An increase in the peak current may cause the voltage which is supplied to other electronic parts to drop and may damage the battery. On the other hand, a high-output/large-capacity battery is generally bulky and thus undesirable to be adopted as a power source of a small and lightweight portable device.